As a nation, we have come so far with the technological advancements we have made. Things have been created few thought possible a few decades ago. There are new ways for people to communicate over the internet. We use it as a way to market ourselves and purchase items over the internet. Unfortunately, there are downsides to these advancements. Privacy has become a major concern as companies and individuals are able to gain access to our own private information. What we send to people in private can be broadcast to the whole world if it falls into the wrong hands.
In her TED Talk, Darieth Chisolm explains how she was the victim of a man who leaked her private pictures on the internet after they broke up. She referred to it as "revenge porn" when someone leaks your private explicit content without your consent. Chisolm had her privacy interfered with since the boyfriend took the pictures of her while she was asleep and posted them without her consent. If technology had never advanced to the point where we have a state of the arc camera on our phones, Chisolm's boyfriend would not have had the ability to take pictures of her. He would not have even thought of such an extreme way to seek revenge. Technology has given the opportunity for Chisolm to communicate over the internet but unfortunately led to her private information being communicated without her consent.
Juan Enriquez discusses how our online presence is like a tattoo, it does not go away. He says that when you get a tattoo sometimes it is an in-the-moment decision and you can come to regret it shortly after receiving it. However, it is very hard and painful to get rid of it. Like a tattoo, what you post on social media has lasting consequences. You might not have meant to post something hurtful or offensive online, but once it is put out there it is very hard to get rid of. What you post online will stick with you and follow you in every aspect of your life.
These issues affect all of us. We can be like Darieth and have a partner seek revenge on us over social media. All of us can make a mistake and post something online that we will regret. The internet is an invasion of privacy. When we get on it we are giving up the right to our private information. The only way to avoid this completely is to not be on social media and to limit how much we use the internet. However, this is not very practical. According to statists, there are 4.66 billion active users of the internet worldwide. If you were to get off of the internet, it would be very hard to keep up with what is going on in the world. You would cut off communication with other people and the ability to buy things online. Companies have made it to where we need the internet in order to survive. We are in a quid pro quo with these companies. They provide access to their services to us for free and in exchange, they access our information in order to market to us. There is no incentive to protect our privacy. The government wants our information as well. They are not going to step in and stop these companies from taking our information. I would argue that we should not even want the government to interfere and make policies to protect us. We need less government involvement in our lives, not more. It is in our best interest to limit the government’s involvement in protecting our privacy. The best thing we can do is limit the amount of information we put on the internet and try our best to be careful with what we put on social media. There will always be risks when you use the internet and we have to take those risks in order to access the good services the internet provides us.
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